1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved locking box, and more particularly to an improved locking box for use in the cargo bed of a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Locking boxes have been used for a long time as accessories for trucks, boats, or even in stationary applications to contain and protect from the elements and from possible theft a variety of articles. Perhaps best known are tool boxes used either on their own, or mounted on small trucks and pickup trucks, that are used by workers to carry their tools and equipment wherever their skills are needed. Some of the key features of these boxes are their toughness and resistance to abuse, so that they will survive and last in demanding environments, and their ability to protect their contents from the elements, so that possibly delicate equipment and instruments will not be exposed to rain, humidity, or other hazards which may damage them. Further, these boxes should protect the contents from theft, or at the very least provide enough protection to slow down access to the contents by would-be thieves and make the box an unattractive target.
These boxes can also be used as an item of convenience by persons who do not depend for their livelihood on carrying their equipment to remote places. In fact, a variety of people make extensive use of locking boxes to carry all sorts of supplies and merchandise. In many cases, locking boxes have become standard accessories for trucks, vans, boats, and other vehicles.
While various types of boxes are used for mounting on pickup trucks and other vehicles, the inventor believes that these boxes conventionally in use have various limitations. For example, most of these boxes extend substantially above the plane of the cargo bed of the vehicle and thus do not fit in visually with the overall look of the vehicle. Typically these boxes are made of plastic or of metal. Conventional boxes can not easily be colored or painted to match the coloring of the vehicle upon which they are mounted. This makes it more difficult to coordinate the box with the rest of the vehicle. Most of these boxes also have locks that are typically placed outside the body of the box itself. In other instances the locking mechanism intrudes in the main storage area of the box. This tends to reduce the available storage volume and also makes it easier to snag the contents of the box on the lock when they are put in or out of the box. While some of these boxes have locking mechanisms on the opposite ends of the box, each mechanism typically can be opened or locked from only one side of the vehicle. Such boxes thus require the operator to move first to one side and then to the opposite side of the vehicle, in order to lock or unlock the box. Other locking boxes of current design have two or more openings that cannot all be opened from only one side of the vehicle.
Conventional locking boxes therefore fail in many cases to meet all the requirements for a modern, well designed locking box. There is therefore a need for an improved locking box which can be used on vehicles such as pickup trucks, small trucks, or boats, or which can be used separately from such vehicles.